Posts for April 16, 2017

These are the posts that are accumulated in our weekly newsletter which goes out throughout the school year. The posts are organized by the major units in our Constitutional Law (5^th ed.) student textbook.

I. Introduction to Law, the Constitution, and the Supreme Court [See TOPICS 1-10 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

Who Will President Trump Nominate To The Circuit And District Courts? [“Above the Law” blog, 4/14/17]: Now that Gorsuch is firmly ensconced on the bench at One First Street, we can shift our focus to nominees for the federal circuit and district courts. Let’s get this party started.

http://abovethelaw.com/2017/04/who-will-president-trump-nominate-to-the-circuit-and-district-courts/

II. Defining the Political System: Federalism and Checks and Balances [See TOPICS 11-15 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

How U.S. Health Care Became Big Business [NPR’s “Fresh Air,” 4/10/17]: Drug prices rise until it's impossible to pay more, and generics are barely any cheaper. Hospital system mergers create efficiencies before breeding regional monopolies, with higher prices for no noticeable medical benefit. Managing an ailment is far more profitable than preventing or curing it.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/04/10/523005353/how-u-s-health-care-became-big-business

California Democrats prepare to battle GOP over Endangered Species Act [San Bernardino Sun, 4/16/17]: Last spring, well before a deluge of winter rain in California, then presidential candidate Donald Trump famously declared to an audience of Central Valley farmers that the state hadn’t really suffered from years of drought.

http://www.sbsun.com/article/20170415/NEWS/170419576

The American Presidency [TOPIC 15]

Trump, Then And Now: What His Shifting Positions Say About What He Believes [NPR, 4/14/17]: Reporters ask lots of pesky questions during campaigns for a reason: to find out how someone would govern.

Most candidates right and left comply with the public interest in what they would do by putting out policy papers and laying out facts and figures, numbers and details. Not Donald Trump. He likes to keep everyone guessing. And the country is now seeing just how much.

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/14/523811675/trump-then-and-now-what-his-shifting-positions-say-about-what-he-believes

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/13/523786423/trump-s-latest-string-of-flip-flops-won-t-likely-hurt-him-for-now-at-least

III. The Political System: Voting and Campaigns [See TOPICS 16-20 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

Schnur: Where Kamala Harris and Ronald Reagan would agree [SF Chron, 4/13/17]: Do the Democrats need their own Tea Party? If one intransigent movement in Congress can create so many problems from the right, imagine what life in Washington would be like if its mirror image emerges from the left. But that seems to be the direction we’re headed.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Where-Kamala-Harris-and-Ronald-Reagan-would-agree-11072673.php

Legislation and the Legislative Process (TOPIC 20)

Lawmaker's Childhood Experience Drives New Mexico's 'Lunch Shaming' Ban [NPR, 4/11/17]: "A 6-year-old ... they have no power to fix this issue and to resolve this," says New Mexico state Sen. Michael Padilla, but they're the ones who have their meals taken away and might be forced to do chores. Padilla knows it, he says, because he lived it while growing up in multiple foster homes.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/04/11/523312769/lawmakers-childhood-experience-drives-new-mexicos-lunch-shaming-ban

How a tax plan unites progressives, the Koch brothers and Walmart [SF Chron, 4/15/17]: As Americans face Tuesday’s deadline to pay their taxes, the Trump administration is hinting that tax reform is up soon on its agenda, with the president predicting it will be an easier political lift than the botched GOP attempt to replace Obamacare.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/How-a-new-tax-unites-progressives-the-Koch-11075870.php#photo-12718807

IV. Criminal Law and Procedure (4^th, 5^th, 6^th, and 8^th amendments) [See TOPICS 21-28 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are some recent articles that are relevant to this unit

V. 1^st Amendment (Speech, Religion, Press and Assembly) [See TOPICS 29-33 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

Supreme Court, with Gorsuch, set to hear church-state case [AP, 4/16/17]: Justice Neil Gorsuch's first week on the Supreme Court bench features an important case about the separation of church and state that has its roots on a Midwestern church playground. The outcome could make it easier to use state money to pay for private, religious schooling in many states.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SUPREME_COURT_SCHOOL_VOUCHERS

VI. 14^th Amendment, Discrimination, Privacy, Working, Citizenship & Immigration [See TOPICS 34-41 in the 5^th edition of Constitutional Law] Here are some recent articles that are relevant to this unit:

Why employers shouldn’t ask about an applicant’s previous salary [SF Chron, 4/15/17]: This month, New York City joined Philadelphia and Massachusetts in passing legislation that will ban employers from asking job applicants about their salary history, in an attempt to narrow the wage gap between women and men. More than 20 other cities and states — including San Francisco and California — have similar legislation in the works.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/Why-employers-shouldn-t-ask-about-an-11074647.php